FastenersAsia September 2023

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Efficient and sustainable parts cleaning for precision and high-purity applications

The cleanliness requirements for high-tech components are becoming stricter and more demanding in numerous branches of industry, whether for millimetre-small fasteners, complex precision optics or metre-sized machinery parts. Many conventional cleaning systems are unable to achieve the results required to ensure consistent product quality. Ecoclean has been supplying solutions for precision and high-purity cleaning applications for many years, and is driving forward the development of cleaning systems, technologies and processes for this sector, including specially designed feature packages. Demands on the performance and reliability of components and parts continue to rise, particularly in sectors such as the semiconductor supply industry, optical and optoelectronic industry, thin-film technology, and vacuum, laser and analysis technologies, as well as the medical device industry. This has an impact on parts cleaning. With new developments in wafer steppers and scanners for EUV lithography, for example, mechanical components are not only becoming more complex in shape but also heavier and larger. The diameters of these workpieces can be anything from one millimetre to more than one metre. The diversity of materials used is also rising, and specifications regarding particulate, film-type chemical, organic and inorganic cleanliness are becoming increasingly stringent. The situation is similar for vacuum components used in UHV, XHV and UCV applications, such as those for high-power laser systems or high-tech measuring and analysis equipment. In the case of precision optics such as mirrors, lenses, prisms and micro-optical parts, more complex geometries and modified materials are also presenting new and challenging cleaning tasks. In coating technology, efficient processes call for exceptionally clean surfaces, regardless of whether parts such as machine tooling, automotive components and optical products are cleaned before or after coating. For parts cleaning, this results in demanding tasks that span the entire manufacturing process. The cleanliness requirements vary depending on the product, area of application and company concerned. Generally, particulate cleanliness specifications – which extend into the nanometre range for precision and high purity applications – are defined by surface cleanliness classes (SCC). The specifications for the required film-type chemical, organic and inorganic surface cleanliness are usually based on individual specifications or factory standards, for example outgassing rates, which are evaluated by mass spectrometry. To solve these tasks in a needs-based, efficient and sustainable manner requires not only comprehensive technological know how, but also knowledge of the applications and respective

Multi-bath ultrasonic cleaning system

physical relationships. As a full-service provider of future oriented solutions for precision and high-purity cleaning, Ecoclean states that it has both. This ensures cleaning solutions designed and equipped to meet requirements, enabling defined cleanliness specifications up to the highest current requirements (for example Grade 1) to be consistently achieved. Key criteria for selecting the most suitable cleaning process and plant technology are the required level of cleanliness, the type of contamination to be removed, and the material and geometry of the respective component. Based on this, it is possible to determine which and how many process steps are necessary with which cleaning medium and which mechanics. Aspects such as the quality of the rinsing medium and the drying technology are included in this consideration, as are cleanliness-compliant parts handling and the prevailing environmental conditions, for example connection or integration into a cleanroom. Which system concept to use, in terms of cleanliness and cost effectiveness, is determined via cleaning trials with original components or test specimens. Ecoclean has high purity test centres for this purpose. As a result, product-specific cleaning processes and process parameters can be developed and stored as programs in the system controller. This ensures that each part is cleaned with the validated process parameters to achieve the required level of cleanliness in a consistent and reproducible manner. All relevant process parameters can be monitored, documented and transferred to higher-level systems. Ecoclean GmbH www.ecoclean-group.net

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September 2023